About Us

Our Beliefs

A college education is expensive enough – your rent shouldn’t be.

With the price of higher education continuing to increase year after year, we’ve held steadfast to the belief that quality student housing should be accessible for all. We also believe that housing should empower students, not financially overburden them. This is why we wholeheartedly support the cooperative housing model. And while the trend around campus has been the new construction of “luxury” apartment buildings with sky-high rents, we remain committed to fostering the ideals of cooperative housing and supporting the buildings we manage in a way that enables each co-op to provide quality, affordable housing to students at the U of M and other schools in the area. 

Our Mission

To develop and maintain quality student-oriented housing communities operating on a nonprofit, democratic basis.

Our History

From its beginning in 1945 as the Chateau Co-op Dining Club, the nonprofit organization now known as Riverton Community Housing has served many thousands of students of the University of Minnesota and nearby colleges by making the pursuit of their educational goals more accessible. With shifting market conditions and the growing need for affordable housing in the late 1960’s – early 1970’s, the student-run board of directors worked with multiple public and private partners to replace the dining co-op with 127 apartments. Thus the 20-story Chateau Student Housing Cooperative was born; the first students moved in for the start of classes in the fall of 1973.

The Chateau was so successful that there has been a waiting list ever since the doors opened. To expand the amount of member-controlled affordable housing, the Chateau board formed a “parent” nonprofit organization. Four more housing cooperatives and a rental townhome community have been added since 1995, putting the current total number of housing units at 434.

Riverton Community Housing

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